The Virginia Tech Massacre

Virginia massacre gunman is named (BBC News link)

Everyone's talking about it here at work, and the story's all over the news. And as far as tragedies go, I guess this one hits pretty close to home. Never once during my time in college did I ever feel unsafe or endangered in any way. And to think of the friends and families left to mourn and wonder why...

But to be honest, I can't really say that the news shocked me when I first read it. It was saddening, to be sure. But surprising? Not particularly. I think it takes a thick skin to read the news these days and not get completely depressed at the sorry state of this world. And after a while, you read these stories day after day, and you become desensitized, realizing that there is no limit to the evil that man is capable of. And you can't measure it's extent in the death tolls or the number of tears shed. It's pervasive, all around us, to the point that it stains all of our souls. And it's a disconcerting state of human nature that, when pushed to its limits, makes us all no different than the monsters we read about daily.

On a related note, it turns out that the shooter was an English major. I find this fact rather disturbing. I always said you have to be a bit weird to write, but I guess I never thought "depressed-crazy-shooting-people" weird. Messed up.